I currently have boosted 280-ish, but can pull my Dangerous down to 196. My ambition is Vengeance.
I seek a way to gain 8 Wounds and get on The Boat (there are some boots there, I’m told)
Alright, I got into a 15-Running-Battle with Feducci–and won. That was disappointing. I finished the lead-burning Correspondence Scholar quest awhile ago.
Aside of the Black Ribbon society, is there any other way to gain wounds? No building to leap from where I won’t catch a rope on the other side? No drink that, once uncorked, will drain my life instead? There’s nothing too difficult at 196 Dangerous, is there?
There’s a shortcut to the Boat in the House of Mirrors at the Carnival.
You could visit the hyena and gawp, which exchanges Nightmares 1:1 for Wounds. And make sure you don’t have an amulet. If you do, the mirror is your option.
If memory serves you need at least one wound already to use that, so if you are at zero wounds you still have to find a way to hurt yourself a bit first.
You don’t need nightmares to gawp at the Hyena in the Labyrinth. That will give the wound you need to use the Mirror at the Carnival. Just make sure to use the correct mirror - there are others that take you to the Mirror Marches or a State of Some Confusion.
You can also play with a Starveling Cat (if you have one) for a point of Wounds (and of Nightmares).
By far the easiest way to get a single wound that is available for everyone is to simply drink some Laudanum sold at Nikolas Pawnbrokers. It will give you 1 wound that will let you get to the boat from the carnival.
If you really want to die, and have all the components for an Impossible Theorum, you could try for one of those at the University. If you succeed, great! But you’re more likely to die immediately with 11 wounds or thereabouts.